Economic policy makers, international organisations and private-sector forecasters commonly use short-term forecasts of real GDP growth based on monthly indicators, such as industrial production, retail sales and confidence surveys. An assessment of the reliability of such tools and of the...

Following the winter recession and stagnation in the second quarter of 2023, the economic upswing is proceeding at a sluggish pace, contrary to expectations over the summer. Weak foreign demand and ongoing inflation have proven to be slowing economic growth. For the time being, private...

The recovery of the German economy is becoming an exercise in patience. In the third quarter of 2023 the economy fared worse than expected, in particular because private households continued to spend their money conservatively despite climbing wages and falling inflation. Both private...

Die Projektgruppe Gemeinschaftsdiagnose hat ihre Prognose für den Anstieg der Wirtschaftsleistung im laufenden Jahr auf 0,3 % angehoben. Im Herbst 2022 hatte sie noch mit einem Rückgang um 0,4 % gerechnet. Der konjunkturelle Rückschlag im Winterhalbjahr 2022/2023 ist glimpflicher ausgefallen...

Die Boomphase der deutschen Wirtschaft setzt sich fort. Allerdings wird die Luft dünner: Die noch verfügbaren gesamtwirtschaftlichen Kapazitäten werden allmählich knapper, sodass die Konjunktur etwas an Schwung verliert. Dennoch bleibt das Tempo hoch: Der Aufschwung der Weltwirtschaft wird...

The Omicron wave of the coronavirus has impacted economies worldwide, resulting in a bleak winter. Although restrictions on economic and public life have been less severe than at the beginning of 2021 in many places-mainly due to the progress of vaccination campaigns-and there are prospects of...

This paper explores how changes in macroeconomic uncertainty have affected the decision to participate in the European Central Bank's Survey of Professional Forecasters. Two different approaches are employed in order to address this question. First, a time-series analysis explores if changes in...

Global recovery is progressing more slowly than was indicated in 2020 due to high coronavirus rates and related economic restrictions in Europe and Japan. Recently, a disparate picture has been forming: In the advanced economies, declining infection rates and continued progress in vaccination...

By lifting lockdown measures as coronavirus case numbers are rising and the vaccine rollout is proceeding slowly, the German economy is being sent on a stop-go course. Re-opening measures will probably be followed by renewed closures, at least regionally, in order to keep the spread of COVID-19...